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Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship 'is the second episode of the seventh series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Chris Chibnall, directed by Saul Metzstein and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. Overview To be added Synopsis After a lengthy absence, the Doctor returns to Earth and scoops up up Amy and Rory for yet another adventure. He also manages to somehow include Rory's dad, Brian Williams. Those aren't the only travellers however as Queen Nefertiti and big-game hunter John Riddell are also on board. The TARDIS arrives on board a large ship and the Doctor is delighted to find a cargo of prehistoric dinosaurs on board. Using the ship's computers, Amy determines that the ship's crew is nowhere to be found. There is someone on board, however, who has no intention of giving up his precious cargo to the Doctor or anyone else who might try to take it from him. Plot After being coerced by Queen Nefertiti of Egypt into allowing her to accompany him after an invasion of giant locusts in 1334, the Doctor is alerted by the Indian Space Agency in 2367 that a spacecraft approximately the size of Canada is approaching Earth at speed. The head of the organisation, Indira, gives him about six hours to divert it's course before they destroy it with missiles; travelling to the African Plains in 1903, the Doctor recruits big game hunter John Riddell in assisting him in his investigation before collecting Amy and Rory and Rory's bewildered father Brian, who'd come to their house to fix their light and jumps over to the approaching the ship. Upon stepping out to look around, leaving Rory to explain to Brian, the Doctor and the rest of the group encounter a pair of dinosaurs charging at them from the inside of a lift. They hide and the dinosaurs depart while somebody watches the group's presence on the security system. The Doctor uses the ship's computer mainframe to find the engines and he, Rory and Brian are instantly teleported to a seafront on his word. Brian and Rory feel the beach humming and dig down the find a metal floor beneath the sand. A bed-ridden man overhears Rory call after the Doctor and orders them brought to him. While Amy, Nefertiti and Riddell roam the ship further looking for their rest of the party and narrowly avoid waking up a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Doctor discovers the mainframe behind the rocks on the seafront, revealing that the sea is, in reality, the ship's engine room. Knowing the wave system would take too long to disable to save the ship, Rory suggests looking for the control room when the Doctor points out the creatures that Brian previously thought were kestrels are in actually a swarm of Pterodactyls. The dinosaurs chase them across the room and pin them in an opening in the rockface. Trapped inside, a thudding approaches them from the other direction that turns out to be a pair of robots who consider them childishly. Amy, Nefertiti and Riddell find an overgrown chamber with a functioning computer that Amy uses to discover the creators of the ship - the Silurians. Riddell points out the fact that, in spite of his skepticism over the absurdity of the situation, that the Silurian ark hasn't got a crew and Amy, using the computer to find any, discover there aren't any Silurians on board but does find a small spacecraft docked at the center of the ship. Meanwhile, the robots escort the Doctor, Rory and Brian through the ship when they stumble across a Triceratops that takes a shine to Brian on account of the grassy golf balls he's carrying; they manage to dismiss the dinosaur by throwing one of the golf balls for it to play with. The robots bring the trio to the ship at the heart of the ark where the Doctor is introduced to it's occupant Solomon while Rory and Brian remain outside. He requests medical help from the Doctor in repairing his leg that was chewed by a dinosaur; the Doctor asks how he came across the dinosaurs in the first place and Soloman has one of his robots shoot Brian in the shoulder to make a point about being asked questions. While Rory tends to his father's wound and the Doctor operates, Solomon explains that he's a trader from the Roxbourne Penniunsula intending to bring the dinosaurs there and sell them. Once the Doctor finishes working, Amy gets in touch and tells him about the Silurians. Solomon openly admits to the genocide of the Silurians on the ship because he desired the dinosaurs and they refused to accept his offers; the Doctor sardonically gloats over the fact that the ship is returning to Earth because he didn't know how to pilot the ark to where he wanted to go and massacred the only creatures that could change it's course. He informs him that the ark is being targetted by missiles and warns him to leave while he still can before taking his friends and fleeing, distracting Solomon's intellectually challenged robots while they get away. Mounting the triceratops, they throw another of Brian's golf balls and the dinosaur chases it through the corridor. Once the dinosaur's charge comes to a halt, a transmission from Earth reaches the ship from the ISA and Indira informs the Doctor that he's run out of time and the missiles are being launched. While Brian posits that they attempt to get to the control room, Solomon teleports in and acknowledges that he himself can't survive along with the dinosaurs but informs him that he scanned the entire ark and found something significantly more valuable - Nefertiti. The Doctor refuses to surrender Nerfertiti, even under duress and Solomon murders the triceratops to prove a point that he won't allow any opposition to his desires. Amy, Nefertiti and Riddell teleport in on Nefertiti's request and agrees to surrender herself to allow the other's safety. The Doctor and Riddell attempt to stop her but Solomon teleports back to his ship with her in tow and the computer detects the approaching missiles. The Doctor suddenly comes up with a spark of inspiration and teleports everybody to the control room, sending Riddell to keep a look out for dinosaurs and magnetising Solomon's ship so he can't leave with Nefertiti. Being of the same gene chain, Rory and Brian link themselves into the piloting system and start steering the ark away from the Earth while Amy helps Riddell and the Doctor teleports aboard Soloman's ship. Nefertiti overpowers him and pins him to the ground while the Doctor programs the ship to emit the signal the missiles are following so that they will follow it instead of the ark and demagnetises the craft, coldly leaving Solomon to his destruction while the ark and dinosaurs are safely piloted away from Earth. Before depositing everybody home, the Doctor agrees to Brian's request to eat his lunch while looking at the Earth from the TARDIS doors, after which he returns Riddell to 1903 while Nefertiti, who'd grown bored of her husband in Egypt, remains with him. Back in the 21st Century, Amy and Rory receive another postcard from Brian, who had gone on to travel following his adventure, as well as one from the Doctor depicting a new world for the dinosaurs named Siluria. Cast * The Doctor - Matt Smith * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill * Riddell - Rupert Graves * Brian Williams - Mark Williams * Solomon - David Bradley * Queen Nefertiti - Riann Steele * Indira - Sunetra Sarker * Robot 1 - Noel Byrne * Robot 2 - Richard Garaghty * Bleytal - Richard Hope * ISA worker - Rudi Dharmalingam * Robot 1 voice - David Mitchell * Robot 2 voice - Robert Webb Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'' page on '''Doctor Who Website